new siding – New England's Narrow Road

Beginning My House Renovations, Part Two

Shortly after I moved into the yellow house (June 2011) I began searching for someone to fix it for me. I was new to the area, and new to the state (see my first post on this subject if you haven’t already read it). I knew almost no one. I took a chance on a young man named Brandon who had a fairly new siding company. He said he would also put in new windows. He was easy to work with and ended up doing a nice job.

Replacing the Siding

Brandon began by removing the old clapboard siding on the front of the house which had been absorbing water for a while. Beneath it the wood was rotting and had to be replaced.

My house with the old clapboard siding removed to show rotted wood. — My house with the old clapboard siding removed

Rotting wood on the front of the house beneath one of the old windows. — Old rotted wood on the outside of the house

In the photo below you can see how the siding was bad and I had to cover the cement steps with plastic because there was a leak that went down into the basement when it rained. When Brandon replaced the siding, he addressed and fixed this problem.

Damaged front door — Unusable front door – covered with tarp when it rains

Working on The Garage

While this scaffolding was up, we had a freak, early season snowstorm! It was Halloween and in New Hampshire where I lived we got tons of snow. Further south where Brandon lived they got lots of ice. Because his power was out and my yard was buried, the renovations were put on hold.

Below is a photo of that freak snowstorm at Halloween. Many trees had still not lost their leaves at the end of October like this oak in my front yard.

The only good thing about getting snow early in the season is that it melts away quickly.

At some point while Brandon was working on siding the front of the house I hired some guys to replace my garage doors. Elite Doors was recommended to me by a contractor who was working on my little deck at the time. They came right out and when I had a problem with something later on (can’t remember what), and fixed it at no charge. They really were very nice and capable guys.

As you can see in the photo below there were obvious signs that the previous owners had tried to keep water out of the garage by building a little ramp out of some black stuff. I also had water problems in winter, but that is another story.

Old garage doors — The old garage doors and old siding

Brandon added a vent to the top of the garage for heat to escape. Once the siding was done and the new doors on the place was looking good!

New garage doors and siding — New garage doors and new siding done!

Front of House, Before and After

Once the work was done, I had new siding on the front and sides of the house. Four widows on the front were replaced with double-hung, easy-to-clean windows and new screens. White shutters took the place of the green. (That yellow and green combo was carried over into the upstairs bathroom.)

My house as it looked before the replacement siding, windows and shutters. — Front of house before renovations

New siding, windows and shutters complete

Relocating a Little Bat

This little bat was hanging out up in the eaves of my house and he had to be removed when the guys were doing the siding. One day when Brandon was here working, he asked me if he could hook up the hose to spray the eaves where he could hear squeaking. He said that they had just had to deal with bats at another job and spraying water made them leave.

It took a while – and I was inside, but the bat finally came out and was cold, so he put it in a box and brought it over to the sun in the driveway. I felt bad for the poor little thing who had a nice place to sleep and suddenly he was sprayed with cold water! But I can understand why the guys didn’t want to work with a bat in their faces.

The little guy crawled out and sat in the sun for about 20 minutes and then flew away. I was watching him from inside with my binoculars and he’d shake himself and flap his wings and then suddenly he flew off across the yard and into the woods next door.

I hope he finds a new place nearby to hang out. I like the idea of having bats around for bug control.

New siding – before and after.

I Love Bats (lelandscott.wordpress.com)

My First Look at The New Siding!

My house renovations are moving along and Brandon has been busy putting up the new siding. I chose light yellow to match the old color of the house because I can’t afford to have the back of the house done right now. Because I have a cape, which is two-story, the back of the house is the largest area to renovate. (I finally sided the back in 2016, just before I moved out.)

My Old Post Below About the Siding

Because WordPress has changed over to a new editor, my old post is a bit of a mess. I can’t seem to arrange the photos as I’d like, but I’ve kept the original story as I wrote it.

new yellow siding on garage — First View of The New Siding

I had my first look at the yellow siding I had ordered when the guys got it added to the side wall of the garage.
I’d been sitting inside at my desk working while all the hammering and pounding was going on outside and I really didn’t know what the siding guys were up to. Then I went out to get my mail and they said I could get a look at it. The side of the garage was done and wow, was it wonderful!

You can see the old look below with the big white splotch where a dilapidated shed had been and someone just painted the house yellow around it.

garage wall to be repaired — The Garage Before the Fix

The back of the house is not being sided at this time because I can’t afford it, but both ends of the house and the front will be this light yellow color with white trim and shutters.

Read how I began my own business and saved up to buy this home at my page: My Zazzle Success Story.